Corylus
CORYLUS AVELLANA PURPUREA.--Purple Hazel. This has large leaves of a
rich purple colour, resembling those of the purple Beech, and is a very
distinct plant for the shrubbery border. Should be cut down annually if
large leaves are desired.
C. COLURNA.--Constantinople Hazel. Turkey, 1665. This is the largest
and most ornamental of the family, and is mentioned here on account of
the showy catkins with which
he tree is usually well supplied. When
thickly produced, as they usually are on established specimens, these
long catkins have a most effective and pleasing appearance, and tend to
render the tree one of the most distinct in cultivation. Under
favourable circumstances, such as when growing in a sweet and rather
rich brown loam, it attains to fully 60 feet in height, and of a neat
shape, from the branches being arranged horizontally, or nearly so.
Even in a young state the Constantinople Hazel is readily distinguished
from the common English species, by the softer and more angular leaves,
and by the whitish bark which comes off in long strips. The stipules,
too, form an unerring guide to its identity, they being long, linear,
and recurved.